mixtape maestro (2.0)

2010 Band You Need To Know and Love Quadron keep the sublime, blue-eyed soul preciousness coming with “Slippin’”, the much-praised highlight from the Danish duo’s self-titled debut that’s finally been given the official video treatment.

On par with its winning preceding single “Pressure”, “Slippin’” offers another tranquil ride back in time to the coy, hand clap-laden charms of 60′s girl group soul, with singer Coco’s cutie-pie coos oozing tender ache all throughout Robin Hannibal’s finely-oiled “tribute to Motown” production.

The musical equivalent to finally achieving that cool glass of water after baking alive under the hot summer sun for hours.

Alt-country-tinged indie-pop singer-songwriter Lissie has received plenty of acclaim within the past year, winning over critics with last year’s Why You Runnin’ EP, then sending the blogosphere all gaga over her rustic renditions of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”, Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” and Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness”. That adoration should only continue as more ears become enamored over the Fleetwood Mac-evocation and heartland charm found within her newly dropped major label debut Catching A Tiger, a surefire bet for Best New Artist attention come next year’s Grammy’s.

On stand-out album track “Stranger”, Lissie nicely blends her classic C&W influences with the dense ’60′s girl group shimmer of Phil Spector “Wall of Sound” pop, but she manages to avoid the doe-eyed girlishness that typified most of those acts, her whiskey-soaked delivery presenting her as no dainty pushover as she dismisses the advances of a wannabe suitor.

Instantly turned off when she notices the ring on his finger (“I thought you said/ That you were single,” she dryly growls), Liss does her best to make him feel as silly and small as possible over the next three minutes, hitting him with a series of turn-downs that build from the simple and direct (“You’re not the kind of man that I wanna give my love”) to menacing threats (“This thing goes, you’ll just be rubble”) as he continually refuses to acknowledge her non-interest in him.

As salty as her lyrics get, though, the arrangement’s twinkling gallop and churn coasts along nicely, ending on an anthemic high of twangy bliss that only heightens the independent woman pride (“I’m not yours, I am mine”) she fades out with.

Lissie – Stranger

BONUS DL: Lissie “Bad Romance (Lady Gaga Cover)” (alt)

Here’s the video to current Catching A Tiger single, “When I’m Alone”:

If the first thing we had heard from Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek’s sophomore Reflection Eternal set Revolutions Per Minute was the slightly more radio-oriented Estelle collaboration “Midnight Hour”, we might have been a tad concerned that the much-praised duo’s comeback wasn’t going to be the deliciously underground-laced and thought-provoking lyric-focused affair we had been waiting a decade for. Hearing it after RE have already kept us entertained with a recent string of excellent pre-album leaks (“Back Again”, “In This World”, “Strangers (Paranoid)” and the HOT Jay Electronica, J. Cole & Mos Def-featured “Just Begun”) though, and we can better appreciate it’s more mainstream-leaning change of pace.

Centered around a reunion between lovers following Talib being on tour for months, “Midnight Hour” has the rapper and Estelle revving eachother up for the long-delayed sex-capades about to go down once he hits the door, as Hi-Tek cooks up a bouncy beat shuffle based around perkily chopped samples of The Shirelles’ 1961 classic “Mama Said”.

“He said ‘When you get home/ Unplug the phone/ The lights is off/ You know it’s on”, Kweli teases, while Estelle edges horny-fueled implosion awaiting his return, drawing on the blissful doo-wop harmonies of girl groups past to relate her inner-anticipation: “See I’ve been going crazy thinkin’ about you late night”.

Revolutions Per Minute drops in May. Pick up the duo’s The Re:Union mixtape here.

DL: “Midnight Hour” (alt)

BONUS DL: Reflection Eternal featuring Erykah Badu “The Blast (Remix)” (alt)

After bringing about more than a few scratched heads over recent track “I Just Love You More”‘s polarizing attempt at a punk chick makeover, Kate Nash makes the world right again with the welcomed return-to-(snarky/ perky)form that is new single, “Do Wah Doo”.

Helmed by producer, and former Suede guitarist, Bernard Butler (Duffy, Black Kids), “Do Wah Doo” buzzes with a playful jumbling of familiar ’60′s pop conventions (radiant girl group harmonies, handclaps, zinging surf guitar, blaring horns) all congealed into a thickened Wall of Sound.

Beneath the happy-go-lucky framing, however, things aren’t as sunny, as Kate is heard spewing all type of “hateration” towards a girl hogging the secret object of her affection’s eye. “Everybody thinks that girl’s a lady/ But I don’t, I think that girl’s shady,” Nash pouts on the sidelines, even going so far as to tag the crush-stealing cow a “bitch”.

Interestingly enough, just when you think she’s about to fight for her man “Jerry Springer”-style and get this fizzy pop confection the happy ending conclusion the upbeat arrangement all but demands, Nash opts to give him up, resigning to “read a book instead” because “I can hang out with myself”.

Hmmm…it’s not the most sassiest way to go out, but whatever, jerk’s loss; we’re just happy to have the undeniably catchy nugget-crafting Kate Nash we love back.

From her April-set second LP, My Best Friend Is You.

Previously heralded for sunny, handclap-laden singles that worked a Motown-influenced, ’60′s girl group pop bop angle with bliss-inducing results (“Add Your Light To Mine, Baby”, “Woah Billy”, “White Russian Doll”), Lucky Soul venture a bit darker sonically on new track “A Coming of Age”, the title cut from the British six-piece’s upcoming second set featuring lead singer Ali Howard’s coquettish coos housed within a dramatic display of waltz swing patterns and Bond-esque guitar figures.

The reason for all this grandiose hullabaloo? Some man done done Ali wrong, shattering her young heart and leaving her “cling(ing) to the floor”, fingering the still warm footprints that trace his pathway out of her life. “I thought a friend meant someone to depend on/ Call it a coming of age…come too late,” she sings, the brief pause before those last three words bulging with all kinds of unstated ache and confusion.

Awww. Makes you wanna pull her into a tight embrace and let her know that everything’s gonna be alright.

Pick it up below or as a free download from their website, then proceed to lift your spirits back up with a viewing of their peppy “White Russian Doll” clip.

A Coming of Age, the album, arrives April 19th through Ruffa Lane Records.

DL: “A Coming of Age” (alt)

You would think that with Nina Sky covering one of the greatest pop records ever made, the twin sister duo would attempt to make it sound all “brand new” by attaching it’s classic script to some trendy, sub-genre sound (and because this group can virtually do no wrong in our eyes, we would’ve likely responded to such a remake with an overly giddy “THIS IS AWESOME!!!!”).

Much to our surprise though, the ladies opt on going the complete opposite route for their rendition of The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby”, stripping it down to a simple (and very classy) vocals and piano treatment that might have made for a touching lil’ Valentine’s Day hyperlink present to our significant others if A) we had caught onto it earlier and B) actually had significant others.

Oh well…it’s still quite beautiful.

DL: “Be My Baby” (alt)

Much buzzed about Danish duo Quadron (singer Coco and musician/ producer Robin Hannibal) execute the simplistic delectation of old-school girl group pop to levels of sublime near-flawlessness on their new single “Pressure”.

From it’s perky, handclaps-horns-and-piano arrangement sending your toes into a tapping frenzy, to the doe-eyed tenderness encased in Coco’s vocal as she tries her best to get under her lover’s skin with little success, the sunny/ sad ditty twinkles with the irresistible contagiousness of a long-lost Supremes number or an early-era Mariah Carey single (you know, back before the “Obsessed”-diva grew an allergy to clothes and started hobnobbing with whatever hot rapper was around).

The band’s self-titled debut is currently available on iTunes, but will be released March 23rd everywhere else.

Not to beat a dead horse, but it’s still so amazingly dumbfounding how Nina Sky continually release such great material with none of it ever able to bubble into commercial success. This past year alone they’re unleashed at least two well-acclaimed tracks (“On Some Bullshit” and their heavily remixed Major Lazer/ Ricky Blaze collabo “Keep It Goin’ Louder”) that are deserving of topping some pop single chart somewhere in the galaxy instead of just being the blog-crit/ club sect sensations they are.

Really, what do these girls have to do to score another over-ground hit? Could nicking an old hook from the Hall & Oates’ platinum-lined catalog be the answer? Probably not, but if it’s any consolation, “Here He Comes”, the “Maneater”-biting third single from B-more club hero Tittsworth‘s 12 Steps, has quickly risen up the rankings of our own personal Hot 100.

Tailor-made for a club-set scene in a CW tween soap, with Tittsworth’s light R&B-house thump carrying a distant bump as if to illustrate it’s source being outside the central camera shot, “Here He Comes” hones in on the inner-thoughts of Nicole and Natalie Albino, who are quietly going nuts as their crush casually brushes past them. “Tense up my body/ Can’t talk about it/ These feelings got me, got me…”, their forlorn harmonies trail off, the breathtaking appeal of their favorite boy so overwhelming, they’re rendered speechless.

The track carries such an alluring overall mood, that the fact that it breaks no new ground for the twins stylistically (these girls have managed to successfully marry every single human emotion possible to a “in the club” setting over the years), or that fellow featured guest Pitbull somewhat mars things with his needless misogyny (“I spread legs like a gynecologist”), don’t even begin to matter…all of which only makes it a bigger shame that “Here He Comes” likely won’t ever reach the massive audience it deserves.

You can sample the original below (in addition to a bonus Tittsworth remix of a beloved ’90′s R&B classic), but don’t forget to also cop the complete single EP, featuring remixes from AC Slater, Nadastrom, Stretch Armstrong & Jaimie Fanatic and Rico Tubbs & Will Power.

DL: “Here He Comes” (alt)

Bonus DL: “Poison (Tittsworth Remix)” (alt)

We’re still not entirely sure it’s a good idea for Amy Winehouse to be helming a label right now (since A: we’d rather have her focusing all her energy on shaping up and recording another album, and B: well, would you want her as a boss?), but then again, what do we know. Her Lioness Records imprint is set to be launched this Fall and it’s first order of business is in releasing the debut album by her 13-year-old goddaughter Dionne Bromfield.

Somewhat un-surprisingly, the London-born Bromfield has been groomed to be a Winehouse mini-me. She may not be crowned with a ratty, on-the-verge-of-collapsing-at-all-times bee hive or look disturbingly under-fed, but she’s definitely presented as a precocious soundalike to her God-mama, down to the beyond-her-years soul pipes and penchant for remaking old R&B/ girl group material (her premiere long-player, Introducing Dionne Bromfield, is an all covers set featuring takes on “Tell Him”, “He’s So Fine” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, amongst other cherished oldies).

The project’s first single is a remake of The Shirelles’ 1963 Top Ten hit “Foolish Little Girl” and, as is the case with a majority of Winehouse’s stuff, it’s impossible not to appreciate. Yeah, it makes for an odd fit as a solo performance (part of the campy charm of the original was the way it was set of as a conversation between friends, the different members of the Shirelles’ trading off leads to play both the song’s jealous ex-girlfriend main role and that character’s well-meaning pals), but that can be overlooked with Bromfield having such sturdy, self-assured vocals and the track rocking this adorable lil’ reggae-for-beginners trot we could listen to over and over for hours.

It’s a decent jump-off for the Lioness label (maybe Amy knows what she’s doing after all!!!), but we gotta admit, we’re more interested in hearing what original stuff Bromfield will be serving up for the follow-up album.

Introducing Dionne Bromfield is due October 12th in the UK.

The last rapper we’d expect to embed themselves in gospel duo Mary Mary‘s Auto-Tuned-slickened crossover jam “God In Me” (think “Blame It On The Alcohol” with a hip, inspirational slant) would be Clipse‘s Malice, but here he is on this remix, dropping an intro sixteen that he questionably opens with his nickname tag “Patty Cake” (because, remember, he’s “the baker’s man”) before delving into some Him-appreciating dialogue (“See I was wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked/ Without the Lord, how could I make it?”).

We wouldn’t have predicted this collaboration (ever!!!!), but in the end, we must admit, they make for a pretty cool team.

DL: “God In Me (Remix)” (alt)

Peep the original’s video (featuring cameos from Kanye West, Farnsworth Bentley and…whoa, Holy ’90′s Flashback, Batman!!: Miss “I Love Your Smile” herself, Shanice!!) below: